Prosecutors: Budget cuts could delay justice

By Stephanie TaylorStaff Writer

Wednesday

Mar 28, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Prosecutors fear delays in criminal prosecutions and less time spent on cases as further state budget cuts loom.

Prosecutors fear delays in criminal prosecutions and less time spent on cases as further state budget cuts loom.“We're beyond being cut to the bone,” said Fourth Judicial Circuit District Attorney Michael Jackson. “We're being cut inside the bone.”Gov. Robert Bentley invoked proration, an across-the-board cut, of 10.6 percent in the General Fund budget earlier this month after tax revenues failed to meet expectations for the first part of 2012.Prosecutors are facing the 10.6 percent cut on top of deep budget cuts they have already sustained over the past few years.Jackson said that the counties he represents — Bibb, Dallas, Hale, Perry and Wilcox — make up the largest circuit in the state.His budget of several million dollars includes a few hundred thousand from the state, he said. Grants, program fees and other sources of income make up the majority of the budget. Cuts to his general fund allocation mean he'll have to use money from those other sources to pay salaries. “So in the end, it's going to be more like a 30 percent cut for us,” he said. “We've been taking cuts for the last three years. It gets to the point where you can't take anymore.”The cuts will have an impact on the public. It will take longer for victims to receive justice, Jackson said, and longer for those who are wrongly accused to clear their names.Tuscaloosa County District Attorney Tommy Smith said that he is already short four assistant district attorneys and is about to lose a fifth. Several support staff positions have gone unfilled as well. If the proposed budget remains the same, he said, his office will be receiving 59 percent less state funding than in 2009. The General Fund provides less than half of the funding for his office. “Aside from some very hard-working, very dedicated public servants losing their jobs, the office won't be able to provide the services that we're supposed to,” he said. “Everyone works to do as much as humanly possible. At the same time, when we're receiving so far below adequate funding, it affects what we're able to do.”As a comparison, Smith noted that the statewide budget for indigent defense is $71 million, with the option of adding more. “That just shows how much money is necessary to pursue the cases,” Smith said. State district attorneys prosecute all of those cases, and more, with a budget of around $27 million.Cuts to the Department of Human Resources could also affect whether justice is served at all, Smith said. The vast majority of district attorneys' offices in Alabama collect more than $317 million of unpaid child support each year, he said. The child support division of Smith's office is funded on a reimbursement basis with DHR and collects about $1 million each month that is paid directly to children and their caretakers, he said.DHR's Child Support Enforcement Division is in danger of losing funding, Smith said, which would be a disservice to the public.“There's $93.7 million of federal matching grant money that would be lost. With the $317 million that DA's offices collect, that would be more than $400 million lost to the people of Alabama each year,” he said.Smith said that he and other district attorneys have met with legislators and hope to find solutions.Jackson said that he is afraid of the consequences if the full cuts take effect.“If things don't change, we're going to end up in a bad position,” he said. “We deal with murderers, rapists, child molesters, all of these serious crimes. We send violent offenders to prison. It's going to be more difficult — it's going to be impossible — if these cuts go into effect.”